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Literary Nook
T.O.A.S.T.: To Others Any Sweet Time
“Crushing us whole with its weight, the pressure pounds insanity into our brains”
—opening lines from The Breath Of Love by Ali Nuri, 2019.
Love Lost on Paper Tossed
Valentines on stormy seas tossed inside of me
valentines on the ocean, high tides with emotion
my love’s labor lost in letters and notes to thee
caring, unthinking, you’ll always have my devotion
valentines read in bed, love’s red lights on my mind
love on a warm water bed a roiling sea rolling
warm weather today the trade winds are kind
waves lap on the shore their sounds consoling
dreaming of loving times spent with you
writing doggerel rhymes for you sometimes
your eyes reflect the color of tropical sea blue
with tiny speckles of green the color of limes
when I went to dump some paper scraps
in the wastebasket, valentines from me? perhaps.
ME, MY SELFIE, AND WHY
“of all the visions that haunt me, growing old alone has to be the most terrifying”
—from his poem The Promise by Iraqi poet, Ali Nur, 2019.
I used to tell my students when I see you I see me
I’m not looking at a “man in the mirror”
“I am you as you are me” and well we are we
DNA shows the lack of differences much clearer
Mad Magazine has a cartoon philosopher comic
who has great big ears and a goofy toothy smile
his well known saying What Me Worry defied tragic
Mr. Alfred E. Newman had a way to begin to beguile
the closer you are to your face for a selfie
it shuts out the location of exactly where you are
you might be hanging out with bats in a belfry
or ‘hitching your wagon’ to a giant blue star
regardless the time, place, event, or occasion
whether ego, id, conscious or subconscious mind
eliminating background hides your situation
prevents future viewers from knowing what’s behind
that tear, smile, grimace, or super goofy look
and puts you in the why Did He Take It? Book.
***
Joey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.
